SOCHI SCENE: 109 starters

SOCHI, Russia – With 109 listed starters in men's giant slalom, there are bound to be lots of crashes. The slow-mo replay folks are having a field day.

Only 79 competitors finished their qualifying run Wednesday. Most of the others fell, sometimes in comical fashion, losing skis or their poles down the course and momentarily doing their best to try to salvage a hopeless run.

At one point, Antonio Jose Pardo Andretta of Venezuela fell on his side and lost his skis, then pounded his hands into the snow in frustration — all replayed in slow motion to live audiences.

Here's a sequence of photos by the AP's Charles Krupa of Andorra's Joan Verdu Sanchez taking a spill.

— By Oskar Garcia — Twitter http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu